A jaw-dropping burger gap in Chicago

Gregg Majewski, eating at a downtown restaurant, plans to open a California-style burger stand called Patty Burger in November near the Art Institute. Photo: Erik Unger

When Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker thinks of his native California, it's not the weather he longs for, it's the hamburgers. Since arriving in Chicago two years ago, Mr. Baker has found little to satisfy his craving for the high-quality, quick-serve burgers sold about everywhere else in the country.

"The California burgers, man, they've got great texture and freshness, like ground sirloin," says Mr. Baker, who says he ate at California's In-N-Out Burger chain three to four times a week when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. "They don't have the same kinds of places (for quick burgers) around here."

Mr. Baker isn't the first to notice that Chicago suffers from a burger deficit  a lack of drive-throughs and burger stands serving hand-packed beef patties on fresh-baked buns. That may be difficult to believe about the city that considers itself a hot dog mecca and that is home to the world's largest burger chain. But consider that none of the nation's five fastest-growing emerging burger chains has a single store within the city limits, according to Chicago-based restaurant consultancy Technomic Inc. And a recent Chicago Tribune survey of the area's 15 best burgers tapped only one intended for takeout  from a stand in Des Plaines.

'IT'S CULTURAL'

How could this be? Some blame Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp., the global burger juggernaut, which counts Chicago among its most saturated markets. McDonald's imposing presence here has limited the local store counts of national chains like Burger King and Wendy's and has also likely kept away smaller chains and single stands, says Technomic's Michael Allenson.

A McDonald's spokeswoman declines to comment on whether the chain's size has dissuaded other burger places from opening here.

The city's history also plays a role. Bruce Kraig, a Roosevelt University historian currently working on a book about Chicago's culinary history, says the roots of the city's burger gap can be traced to the end of World War II, when commercial cafeterias gave way to faster-service eateries. "As hamburger stands were popping up elsewhere, hot dog stands and Italian beef filled that niche here," says Mr. Kraig. "It's cultural."

And as the hot dog emerged as a Chicago icon, the market looked less attractive to would-be burger-stand proprietors. "A similar thing happened in Cincinnati with the chili stands," he says. "That sort of thing perpetuates itself, and burgers don't get a foothold."

THE OPPORTUNIST

Mr. Kraig says there's nothing in the local culture that would prevent a good burger stand, in the right location, from thriving in Chicago today.

Enter Gregg Majewski. Mr. Majewski, the former CEO of Jimmy John's Franchise Inc., plans to open a California-style burger stand in November on Adams Street just off of Michigan Avenue near the Art Institute of Chicago. The restaurant, called Patty Burger and modeled after California's In-N-Out Burger, will feature a narrow, burger-centric menu with fresh ingredients cooked to order. Mr. Majewski says buns will be baked on the premises. Burger patties will be packed by hand daily from fresh, never-frozen beef, and fetch about $3.25 apiece at the counter.

"You can't get a good (quick-service burger) in Chicago," he says.

Mr. Allenson of Technomic Inc. agrees. He notes that Patty Burger will have a jump on rapidly expanding national chains like Culver's; Fatburger; Texas-based Fuddruckers and Whataburger, and Tennessee-based Back Yard Burgers. None of those chains has a restaurant in Chicago.

"I think he's onto something," Mr. Allenson says of Mr. Majewski.

Mr. Majewski isn't likely to have Chicago's high-end, quick-serve burger market to himself for long. Culver's, a chain that's built a cult following in Wisconsin, already has 10 suburban Chicago locations and had a deal for a downtown location collapse last year, according to a spokeswoman. "We'll be in Chicago," she says. "It's just a matter of when." And a Fatburger spokesman says a company-owned franchise will be in Chicago "within a few years."

Both companies say they see Chicago as underserved by their peers in the $54-billion national burger industry.

That's a blessing to California transplant Jim Bloom, a local marketing executive who says he once washed down an In-N-Out Burger with a $100 bottle of Silver Oak cabernet sauvignon. "I paired the Silver Oak with a Double-Double, animal-style," he says, using the chain's lingo for two burgers with melted cheese, stacked on a toasted bun with a fresh clump of lettuce and grilled onion. "It was a damn good pairing."